Solar panels, such as photovoltaic (PV) and solar water heating panels, are frequently used to take advantage of electrical power generation and heating properties of sunlight. To provide space savings and potentially enhanced efficiency, solar panels are in many cases installed on rooftops of buildings (e.g., office buildings, houses, etc.). However, because of winds and storms, the mounting fixtures used for installing solar panels on buildings need to be sufficiently strong and durable to reduce the chances of damage or injury from a panel coming loose during a storm, etc.
Various mounting fixtures have been developed for solar panel installation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,963,074 discloses a device for fixing a photovoltaic module on a sloping roof having a roof structure and a roof covering with individual roof covering elements. The device includes a roof-side connecting piece disposable beneath the roof covering and a module-side connecting piece disposable on an edge of the photovoltaic module. A flexible retaining element interconnects the roof-side connecting piece and the module-side connecting piece. The flexible retaining element is loadable by pulling and adapted to be guided through the roof covering without altering a position or shape of the individual roof covering elements.
Despite the existence of such mounting fixtures, further enhancements may be desirable in some applications.